ok I don't have an extra Xbox controller laying around cause well I only have one controller. So I guess back to hotswapping the drive. I own Mechassault to load the exploit.

Ok whats so dangerous about hotswapping? I don't intend on deleting any files from my Xbox HDD. I just don't know where to start! All the damn tutorials I read makes me feel like I'm missing something like a step before it or something. I need to know where to start, if I hot swap the drive and input the mechassault exploit gamesaves into the proper directory and load the game and then load the save file from the game is that what I have to do?

The reason it is so dangerous is because things can go wrong. Power outages, copying the wrong file over to the hd, just about anything can mess up a manual softmod. I don't know who is charging 59.99 for memory cards where your from, you can get original MS memory cards here for 20 bucks at walmart. You can find them online for reasonable to. If you have a usb memory stick and want to give that a go, you should be able to pick up a controller extender cable for cheap and mod it.

The way you get the hdd key and other files that your talking about is by running a game save exploit that has Evox in it. From Evox choos system utils and then choose backup. This will create those files. But with out a memory card/stick with a game save exploit, you will not be able to get those files making using a different hard drive impossible to start with.

Yes, if you were to look at your xbox hd through an ftp session, you would see a c,e,x,y and z drive. If you had a game disk in the drive and a memory card in the controller you would also see a d and a h drive as well. This all changes when you use hdd driver or fatxplorer to look at it. Don't ask be to describe it cause I can't remember.

If your that desperate and really want to do the hotswap method, the tutorial link that I posted earlier is complete. Read it, memorize it and then do it. Just don't say we didn't [B]warn[/B] you if your xbox turns into a paperweight. Not saying that we don't want to help, just making sure that you understand the possible results.

If I were to get a Xbox memory card, how would I put the gamesave files onto the memory card? I would still have to make some sort of cable right?

eeprom.bin file can only be accessed once the exploit is installed correct? If so how can I use this tutorial? Am I able to use some other eeprom.bin found on the internet or will it have to be my own from my own box?

Yes. You would have to modify your xbox controller. This can be done to where you can use your xbox controller on your xbox and your pc. Click [URL=***********.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=223]here for information on modding the controller.

Regarding the eeprom.bin file, it is unique to your xbox. In other words, I could not use your eeprom.bin file to unlock/lock my xbox hd and you could not use mine to unlock/lock yours. And you can only get it by running a game save exploit. The exploit does technically have to be installed. Transfering the game save to the memory card from the pc, then from the memory card to the xbox technically installs it. That way when you run the game and tell it to load a game save and point it the the exploited game save, it will run the exploit and allow you to make your backup. While the game save is running, you will be able to ftp into your xbox after setting it up on a network connection to your computer and retrieve the eeprom.bin file that running the backup creates.

The tutorial also shows you the hotswap method. Using this method, the xbox is turned on until such a time the xbox hd is unlocked by the xbox allowing access from other sources like a pc running xbox hd maker. If you will notice, the version of xbox hd maker they are showing is 1.7, that is an older version and now everyone is using the game save exploits. It really is the best and safest method of doing a softmod.